Adventurous Buckhead foodies have a unique dining option right around the corner. The Uptown Test Kitchen is part of the revitalized commercial and residential district surrounding the Lindbergh MARTA station, known as Uptown Atlanta. Over the past few years, developers have transformed this section of Piedmont Road with major additions to both Uptown Atlanta and Lindbergh Plaza. Both developments include retail, restaurants, and residential towers; in addition to neighborhood stalwarts like Home Depot and Ashley Furniture.
Uptown Test Kitchen occupies the former Chili’s building at 2440 Piedmont Road. Each week, the Test Kitchen hosts a rotating staff of chefs in their “micro food hall,” known as Chow A La Carte. There are usually two or three chefs each week, plus a coffee bar. Chefs craft their own small menu, and the offerings are rarely the same from week-to-week. Diners can try new dishes from Trinidad, West Africa, Italy, and much more.
Organizer Yohana Solomon started Chow A La Carte to support Atlanta’s vibrant community of up-and-coming chefs. Solomon explains, “We create an opportunity for these amazing, mostly immigrant, refugee, and minority chefs to experiment and grow their business without the worry of overhead.” She also points out the unique opportunity for Chow A La Carte customers, “Where else can you come and eat Nigerian, Ethiopian, and Japanese food all in one space?”
A history of supporting Atlanta’s culinary scene
Solomon has been supporting Atlanta’s culinary community since 2011. She founded the Atlanta Underground Market to help connect chefs with local foodies. Each month, 30-40 vendors would congregate to showcase food and products to Atlantans who were lucky enough to know about the events.
Amanda Plumb was a volunteer at the Atlanta Underground Market with a passion for authentic dining experiences. She called Solomon in 2016 to ask where to get the best Ethiopian food in Atlanta. “She assured me that she makes the best Ethiopian food,” Said Plumb, “So instead of going out to a restaurant, she came over to my house and cooked for my friends.”
The resulting Ethiopian brunch was a huge hit with Plumb and her friends. That meal inspired the duo to start an underground dinner club that would come to be known as Chow Club Atlanta.
Chow Club Atlanta is born
The pair hit the ground running with Solomon’s chef contacts from the Underground Market and an email list connecting them to 10,000 foodies. The first event was a three-course dinner for 20 at Plumb’s home with a Venezuelan chef from the Underground Market.
The Chow Club was a huge hit, with Yohana and Amanda hosting 20-50 people for dinner at Plumb’s home each month. Each event was an opportunity for a chef to showcase their food to curious diners who were ready to try something new.
Yohana was approached by developers from Uptown Atlanta in 2023. She jumped at the chance to take over the Piedmont Road space and present the Chow Club concept to a wider audience.
Uptown Test Kitchen
Since mid-2023, Chow Club dinners have been hosted in the Uptown Test Kitchen. Visiting chefs prepare their meals in the Test Kitchen’s commercial kitchen, and dinner is served in the Test Kitchen dining room. A Chow Club dinner is generally a 5-course tasting menu, and the interactive event includes presentations by the chef about the dishes they choose, and what each dish means to them.
Chow Club is a unique dining opportunity because of the type of chefs they showcase. Plumb explains, “We really focus on people who are home cooks or building their brand. Maybe they do catering, maybe they do pop-ups, but not people that have brick and mortar [restaurants] or food trucks.” Some of the chefs who come through the Chow Club aspire to have their own restaurant one day, but they also feature home cooks and hobbyists.
Organizers and volunteers assist the visiting chefs at every step of the process. Plumb notes that they make it easy for chefs to make money during their events by selling a set number of tickets in advance. “Because they sell the tickets ahead of time, they know how many people to cook for.” Plumb continues, “Sometimes when you do a pop-up or a festival, you don’t know how much to buy. You might buy way too much food and lose money, or you may not buy enough and not make as much money as you could have.”
The Chow Club experience
Guest chefs also benefit from Chow Club and Chow A La Carte’s built-in audience. Diners at the Uptown Test Kitchen expect unique offerings, and they won’t shy away from trying something new. Foodies in-the-know come to the Test Kitchen for the opportunity to try a dish that they may not find anywhere else in the city.
When my wife and I attended a Chow Club dinner in August, we found a group of cheerful diners who were excited about a new culinary experience. Attendees were from all walks of life; from retirees to 20-somethings. A Chow Club dinner is great for date night or just a night out with friends. Diners can choose to sit with strangers or reserve a private table. We shared a table with a couple from Roswell who had attended a few Chow Club dinners in the past. Sharing the meal with new friends was certainly a highlight of the event. The Japanese tasting menu included many dishes I had not tried before. Chef Kiyoka spoke a little bit about each dish, which brought the meal to life and made the experience very personal.
If you are near the Lindbergh MARTA station during the week, you should definitely stop by and see what’s cooking at The Uptown Test Kitchen. Chow A La Carte hosts a rotating staff of chefs Monday through Friday from 12:00-7:00 p.m. Visit the Uptown Kitchen website for more information. I can also highly recommend the curated Chow Club dinner that happens each month. The monthly dinners regularly sell out, so buy your tickets early at https://chowclubatlanta.com/
